At the time
Only a sing-song of words
A small poem
By a grandma

Could not have been more loved
By a young girl who got a ribee

‘A ribee
A ribee
Melissa got a ribee’

The poem chanted from the stands
Of the small softball field
A fleck in the eye of nature
And the world in the eye
of a young girl

A young girl who had the love that
Middle aged men wake up
In the middle of the night
Crying out
For

But all Melissa knew
Was that she had
a ribee
And a few verses to praise such a small feat
Which watered it into a moment of glory

In this way
Life’s moments of glory
Are only so
Because of great strokes of love
Painted on their grain

So a few years later
And a few moments wiser
And a few words more thoughtful

A young girl thanks you
For your great stokes of love
Which have turned her life from a ribee
Into a homerun

For I hope you know
How your soft curls and kind blue eyes
Tell the story of a self-less love

The kind of love
So gentle that it sneaks up behind you
And warms you up

Like socks after ice skating
and laughter after dinner
and holding hands after a long day
and a poem after a ribee

the kind of love that tingles
not burns
and is steady
not infrequent

For you, my lovely grandma,
Are fluent in a language
That breathes in every country

A language many labor for lifetimes to comprehend
And for centuries to speak

But, you speak this language
In natural whispers
A stream to a pond
A horse to a field
A chime to a summer’s afternoon

You speak this language through
Small actions and fluid motions
Easing the stress of the world
With yet another moment of love

For even in a hospital bed
You ask about my bed
And my adventures

My foolish problems of a young heart
Running around the world
Running into pretend issues
Running into new nouns

And wanting so much to run into your arms
So you can welcome me home

And so I can thank you
For your thousands of moments
With one small moment

And I think of that moment

A kiss on the cheek
An ear for your words
A moment with your love

Because I love you
And because I want to love
Like you do

On all the death beds
The word love is more resonant than
The struggle to invent
Perhaps because what nature provides
Has surmounted concoctions
Ever since Jesus poured his blood onto wood
We eat flesh not stone
We listen to stories of compassion
We get on our knees for love
We die dreaming of it
The turbulence hits the wings
My mind fumbles with the vision of the dive
A jolt and a muffled pilots voice
I'd sprint across the aisle
I love you
We are leaving together but I love you
Forever
This moment lives
And in it I love you

I could swallow
Two pounds and the sea wouldn't
Feel an inch

I'd sink into the ground
Filled with the salt and water
Fighting to be released

You block the sun with your body
In an effort to protect my eyes
But you burn me all the same

Just let the sun scorch me
For my mother knows the cure

Aloe and frozen peas
On the floor of my grandmas beach house

I can't put aloe on your gentle touch when cars come too close
I can't sooth the way you turn away right before we sleep

My lack of presence in your mind
My unreciprocated kiss

I'm filled with the sea

I want to regurgitate the entire ocean
And lay hollow in the sand
Waiting for someone to pump
Me full of blood and matter

Who will do it

It won't be you

Don't touch me
Your touch is regret
And your beauty stings

I know you've had water that
Fills you up nicely and turns sour
In the intestines it turns to curdled milk

I could have been good for you
I would have dribbled clear fresh water down your throat
And patted your mouth dry

But the conditional leaks slow ****
That feels like release
And is always just unnecessary pain

If I leave you be you will heal on your own

Michael got a new job
there is not much more to see
at 53

You are young
he told me
every day is fresh

and he is right
today I tried a new fruit
from napal

Just another gummy substance
I wouldn’t
have known the difference

except that she told me
it's _ from Napal

what was it called
i can’t recall
it’s _ from Napal